Helga and Lila
by PeannutWrites
Summary: In a spur of emotion and inspiration, Helga writes a declaration of her love for Arnold on a wall in an alley way near P.S. 119. But when she sees three familiar shadows approach, she quickly changes the writing to hide her feelings. She thinks she's safe, until Lila Sawyer, the nicest girl in the whole school, ends up falling for her. Rewrite of the episode "Arnold and Lila".


"He doesn't like her like her!"

Helga swooned as she plopped down on a box that sat under her in the alleyway where she resided.

"Oh Arnold! So discriminating, so patient and thoughtful! Spurning the golden girl, and saving his affections for one less likely, yet perhaps ultimately more deserving!" she got up and started pacing, continuing in her monologue state, "One who may not be the prettiest or the wittiest, but who primitive beauty, grace and charms lie tragically unobserved and unawakened. Someone… like… me. Helga G. Pataki. Oh Arnold! Bane of my existence, blight upon my tortured heart! If only you knew my true feelings for you, and if only you felt the same true feelings untoward me. Call me mad, but I dare,I dare!

With this chalk and no witnesses in sight, I will write the words upon this wall, expressing all I know, I feel and believe is true, forever and today…" and with that, she took out some chalk and loving wrote upon the wall, "Helga… loves… Arnold…" she finished with by drawing a heart with an arrow through it around the message. She sighed dreamily, proud of the work she had done.

Suddenly, she heard some giggles from around the corner coming into the alley where she stayed. "She mixed baby blue andblack. What was shethinking?" Helga immediately recognized the voice, it wasRhonda, the infamous school gossip. She saw her shadow and noticed Nadine and Lila tagging along. She panicked.Nobodywas supposed to be able to see the message Helga wrote. She quickly, without thinking, erased Arnold's name and wrote Lila's in its place.

"It was totally outrageous. So I said 'Excuse memiss thing, this is the fashion policy, andIam going to have to writeyoua ticket.'" Lila and Nadine giggled at Rhonda's joke as Helga quickly dashed off. "Hold up girls," Rhonda halted,instantlynoticing the message written on the the wall. "Helga. Loves. Lila…?" All three girls blinked. They couldn'tbelievewhat they were seeing.

"Gosh…" Lila gasped in surprise at what she was seeing. Helga? Likingher? Just the thought made a tinge of pink rise to her cheeks.

"Do you think it's true?" Nadine asked in disbelief.

"Of coursenot." Rhonda scoffed. "Helga? Likinganyone?Impossible."

"I dunno Rhonda," Nadine inputted, "Helga can be really surprising sometimes. Besides, it kinda makes sense when you remember the whole 'opposites attract' thing."

"Nonsense. It was probably just some silly little prank one of theboysplayed." Rhonda stated matter of factly.

Nadine shrugged and nodded, deciding to agree with her. The boyswerealways weird like that. The girls walked on, brushing it off as a joke.

The girls, that is, except forLila. She stood there for a minute, staring at the writing on the wall.'D-does she really…?'

"Hey Lila! You coming?" Rhonda called, breaking her out of her train of thought.

"C-coming!" she hollered back. Lila then quickly ran to catch up with the other girls, leaving the writing alone.

"Whew! That was close…" Helga said to herself as she came out of hiding. She looked at the message she had written and scoffed. "Me? Loving Lila? Ha! Fat chance! Like I would ever fall forMiss Perfect.No one'sgonna believethat." she paused for a moment. "I… actually meant to write "Lila loves Arnold" but... oh well!" she shrugged it off and decided to leave.

That night, Lila was sitting in her room brushing her hair and getting ready for bed. She was still thinking about the message she, Rhonda and Nadine found earlier that day.

'Is it true? Does Helga really love me?'she pondered as she continued brushing. Suddenly, she paused,'Do… doIloveher?'

Images of Helga began to fill her mind. They way her hair shone in the sun, the way her eyes sparkled and glittered when she was happy, the way she laughed, the way she smiled, even the way she apologized so sincerely when the girls as school hurt Lila…

Then, Lila came to a realization…

"I… Ido…"

The next day, Lila went to class to look for a very specific person- a very special person. She found Helga sitting at her desk working on extra homework. She approached Helga's desk and paused, formulating what she was going to say in her head.

"Good morning, Helga." Lila greeted nervously as she taped Helga's desk.

"And what does'Little Miss Perfect'want?" Helga asked sarcastically.

"I happened to notice the oh so beautiful message you wrote on the the wall..." Lila replied, "and I just wanted to let you know how grateful I am… because I…" a loving smile graced her lips.

"Because I love you too…"

Helga's pencil dropped in shock.

Lila giggled at Helga's surprised expression. "Helga," she continued, "would you, by any chance, like to go to the movies after school? As… you know…a date?"

Helga was having a hard time processing this. Her face was bright scarlett'She… I… what…?'Helga then realized that Lila had asked her a question. "D-d-d-date…?" Helga asked with uncertainty.'Crap, crap, CRAP! What do I say!? I just got asked on a date by LILA! The girl thinks I love her! What do I do?!'

"U-u-uh, s-sure Lila…"'"sure Lila"? You EXCEPT? Great, now you're leading her on. Perfect. Just perfect.'

Lila smiled brightly at her, "Thank you, Helga!" suddenly, Lila hugged Helga tightly.She was too stunned to push her away. "See you after school!" Lila waved sweetly.

"Y-yeah… you too…" Helga said quietly.

'What just happened…?'

Later that day, Helga and Lila were sitting in the theater, waiting for the previews to start.

"I'm just ever so grateful you agreed to go on this date with me, Helga!" Lila beamed as she hugged Helga's arm.

"Uh, y-yeah…" Helga said with uncertainty in her voice.'Oh MAN, this is not good…'

"Oh! Will you excuse me for just a moment, Helga? I want to get us some snacks!" Lila stood up and looked at Helga for approval.

"O-oh, sure Lila…"

As soon as Lila left, Helga anxiously started murmuring to herself, "Get it together Helga ol' girl! It's gonna be fine, this is fine…"

"Helga?"

Suddenly, Helga heard a familiar voice from behind her.

"Arnold?!" she yelped, startled by the sudden appearance of the blond boy. "I-I mean- what'reyoudoing here, Football-head!?"

"I was just here coming to watch a movie…" Arnold said. He thought for a moment, "Helga, this is aromancemovie. I thought you hated those?"

"Well, mydatejust happens to like them." She scowled.

"Date?You're on adate?" he questioned.

"Uh,yeah.What's it to ya, Hair-boy?" she quirked her brow.

"N-nothing! It's just… since when do you date?"

"S-since they asked me okay!?" she squeaked.

Just then, Lila returned with some candy and popcorn in hand. "Oh! Hello there Arnold!"

Arnold paused. He looked at Lila. The Helga. Then Lila…

"Helga… can I talk to you for a minute?" he asked.

"Uh… sure- woah-!" Arnold grabbed Helga and took her to a place in the theater out of ear reach.

"What the heck, Arnoldo!?" Helga snapped, yanking her hand out of Arnold's grasp.

"Helga… I thought you said you were going on adate?" Arnold asked accusingly.

"I am, Hair-boy! Geez!" she retorted defensively.

"WithLila?"

"No, withHarold." she said sarcastically, giving him a dull look.

"Helga."

"Okay! Yes! I'm on a date with Lila! Yeesh…"

"But… I don't understand…youlikeLila?" he asked with disbelief.

"Well… no…" she answered, beginning to look nervous now.

"Then… why are you on adatewith her?" he asked, a little confused now.

"W-well, because…ugh,she thinks I do, okay?!"

"What? Why?"

"Because…" she sighed. It was no use. "Because I wrote it in one of the alleyways near school okay! Ugh."

"Why? As a prank or something? That's really mean, Helga! Even for you!" he said, accusingly putting his hands on his hips.

"No! I'd never prank someone like that!" she shouted defensively.

"Then… why…?"

"Well… a-at first it said I liked somebody else, but then she, Rhonda and Nadine were coming and I panicked so… I replaced one of the names with Lila's and ran away…" she sighed. She wished she had just erased the entire thing instead of just replacing Arnold's name. But it was too late now.

Arnold frowned sympathetically. This was definitely a problem. "Well… I think you should just… tell Lila the truth."

"No!" she yelled, "I can't do that! It'll break her heart!"

"I'm sorry Helga, but…" he continued, "you can't just lead her on like this! You're just gonna hurt her anyway once she finds out the truth…"

"Yeah… I guess I should just tell her. I mean, I hate to admit it, but your right." she sighed in defeat and went back to her seat with Lila.

"Helga! You're back! Whatever did Arnold want?" Lila asked when Helga returned.

"Oh, he, uh, just… wanted to see how I was doing! Hehe…" Helga laughed nervously.

"Oh, okay!" Lila smiled sweetly as the lights went down and the previews began to play.

"U-um, Lila?" Helga began after a while.

"Yes Helga?" Lila answered almost dreamily.

"Uh… C-could I have some of that candy you got?" Helga asked simply with a fake, nervous smile, mentally facepalming.

"Oh! Of course! Here you go Helga!" she hand some of the candy over to Helga.

"Th-thanks…" Helga felt like she could slap herself right now.'I... I guess I should just wait until after the movie to tell her! Yeah! That's what I'll do!'she thought to herself.

Meanwhile, in the row behind them, Arnold was disappointed in Helga for not telling Lila the truth right away, but he understood.'It hurts when someone tells you they don't like you back, and the fact that Helga realizes that is really… admiral…'he thought to himself, then shook his head.'I just hope Helga won't keep leading her on for too long…'

"Thank you again for coming on this date with me Helga!" Lila said sweetly as they left the theater.

"Yeah, no problem…" Helga replied.

"Helga…?"

"Y-yeah?"

"Would you perhaps… like to go out again tomorrow?" Lila asked, smiling as they neared her house.

"Actually… I… um…" Helga looked at Lila. She looked so hopeful, so painfully happy. She just couldn't bear it. "...Sure, Lila." she answered, faking a weak smile.

"Oh, thank you, Helga! Thank you, just ever so much!" Lila squealed happily, squeezing Helga in a tight hug.

Helga blushed hotly, "N-no problem, Lila…"

"Well… good night, Helga! See you tomorrow!" Lila waved, giggling happily as she went up the stoop to her house.

"Helga…" At that moment, Arnold came up to Helga. He had decided to trail behind the two girls to make sure Helga told Lila the truth.

"Huh?!" Helga shouted as she whipped around. "What the heck Football-head?! Were you stalking us or something?!"

"I wanted to make sure you told Lila the truth…" he frowned "Helga… you know you can't keep this up forever. You have to tell her the truth."

"I know, I know…" Helga sighed "But… it's hard, okay?! I just… I don't wanna hurt her feelings!"

Arnold looked at her sympathetically, the slumped. "Okay… but… don't waittoolong, alright?

"Yeah… okay…"

The next day, Helga and Lila where sitting together at lunch whilst Arnold and some of the other boys watched from another table.

"Willikers! Helga sure has been spendin' a lot o' time with Miss Lila lately…" Stinky said with his signature southern drawl.

"Yeah! It's like they're… best friends or something!" Harold deduced.

"Boy howdy! I'd say they're closer than… than… than the three musketeers!" Sid proclaimed.

"You can say that again." Gerald said with a chuckle.

Arnold stopped in the action of eating his sandwich, then he rolled his eyes at their ignorance,'Eh… it's probably better if theydon'tknow…'he thought.

"There's just one thing I don't get Arnold…" said Stinky.

Arnold quirked his brow, "What's that Stinky?"

"How come Helga likes spending so much time with Lila, but she can't stand bein' around you for very long without insultin' or somethin'?" Stinky asked, scratching his head.

"Hey, yeah! Lila's just as nice as you are! Maybe even nicer!" Harold shouted.

"Yeah, why does Helga like her and not you?" Sid interjected.

Arnold thought for a moment. WhydidHelga seem to tolerate Lila more than him? It kinda irked him that Helga was able to spend practicallytwo dayswith Lila, who was somehowmuchsweeter than him, but claimed she couldn't even stand him.

'Does… does Helga like Lila more than me?'he frowned.

Arnold's thoughts were interrupted by Gerald snapping his fingers, "Hey Arnold! You okay man?"

"Uh, y-yeah, sorry. I just… I… don't know…" Arnold answered.

"Eh, who cares anyway? Like anyone would ever wanna get close to Helga Pataki." Sid said as he, Harold, Stinky and Gerald laughed.

Arnold gave an unamused look at them as he continued to eat his lunch.

Later, Helga had Lila excuse her so she could put some stuff in her locker.

"So it was true after all." Helga heard the prissy voice of Rhonda Wellington Lloyd taunt.

"What doyouwantPrincess?" Helga sneered.

"The message? That you wrote on the wall? 'Helga loves Lila'? It was true, wasn't it?" Nadine offered.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Helga stated as she crossed her arms.

"Oh, comeon,Helga! Don't play coy! You're obviously the one who wrote it! Why else would be spending so much time with Lila?" Rhonda demanded.

"That's none of your business!" Helga shot back.

"Oh Helga it's really nothing to be ashamed of!" Sheena said sweetly.

"Yeah! I for one think you two make a great couple!" Eugene exclaimed.

"O-oh, just… leave me alone." Helga stomped off with a scarlett face.

"Go ahead, Helga! Wouldn't want to keep you from yourgirlfriendto long!" Rhonda called after her smugly as the other girls (and Eugene) laughed and giggled.

Right after Helga left Arnold came over to see what they were laughing at. "Hey guys, what's going on?"

"Oh, we were just congratulating Helga on her newrelationship." Rhonda answered him slyly.

"Yeah, who knew, huh? Helga and Lila…" Nadine snickered.

Arnold rolled his eyes and scowled a bit. He was getting pretty tired of this 'Helga loves Lila' business.'Ugh, I wish people would quit talking about them so much. What makes them think Helga actuallylikesLila and isn't just hanging out with her becauseLilalikesHelga?! Geez…'

"Hey Arnold? Hey Arnold!" Gerald waved in front of Arnold's face, breaking him out of his thoughts.

Arnold blinked, "Huh?"

"You were looking kinda mad there, buddy. You okay?" Gerald raised an eyebrow at his best friend.

"O-oh yeah Gerald, I'm fine." Arnold offered with a smile.

"What were they talking about anyway?" he asked, referring to Rhonda and the others.

"Oh, they were just talking about Helga and Lila…" Arnold answered a bit miffed at the return of the thought.

"You mean about their whole 'new best friends' thing they got going on?" Gerald smirked.

"Well… actually, Gerald… it's not exactly a 'best friend' thing…" Arnold trailed off.

"What? What else could it be?" Gerald asked confused.

"Well, it's a little… bigger than that, ya know?" Arnold offered, hoping Gerald would get what he meant.

Unfortunately, he didn't. "Bigger? What do you mean?"

"Like, ya know… more than friends…" Arnold was starting to get impatient at this point.

"More than friends? I don't follow…" Gerald furrowed his brow.

"Their dating okay?!" Arnold exclaimed.

Gerald's eyes widened at his best friend's sudden loudness, then he squinted as he processed what Arnold said. "Dating? You mean like girlfriend and… girlfriend…?"

Arnold nodded slowly, refusing to look at Gerald. "Y-yeah. Girlfriend and… girlfriend…"

"...Oh." Gerald thought for a moment, "Wait, so HelgalikeLila? Like,likes herlikes her?"

"Well, not… exactly…" Arnold trailed off. "It's actuallyLilathat like likesHelga."

"Wait, so Helga's just dating Lila because Lila likes her?" Gerald asked putting two and two together.

"Basically, yeah." Arnold nodded.

"Why? I mean, why wouldLilalikeHelga?'Cause I'm pretty sure Helga's probably the least likable-much lesslikelikable-person I've ever met." Gerald snorted.

"Gerald…" Arnold gave his friend an unamused look.

"Hey! I'm just sayin'!" Gerald raised his hands in defense, "but seriously."

Arnold signed, "Helga kinda ended up writing thatsheliked Lila on the wall in an alleyway near school and I guess it made Lila realize she liked Helga."

"So it was a prank? That'sso petty!Even for Helga!" Gerald exclaimed.

"No! It wasn't! It originally said that Helga liked somebody else but someone was coming so she panicked and changed it!" Arnold corrected.

Gerald raised an eyebrow, "Who?"

"Huh?"

"Who did it say Helga liked originally?"

"I…" Arnold thought for a moment, "...don't know… She didn't tell me…" He was a bit peeved at himself for not asking.

"So… that means Helga likes someone… and Lila thinks it's her?

"Yeah…"

After they had finished this topic, the school bell rang, signifying the start of next class.

The next morning, Arnold was eating breakfast in the kitchen of the boarding house.

"Mornin', Shortman! What's goin' on?" Arnold's grandpa Phil addressed him as he entered.

Arnold looked up from his cereal, "Huh? Oh, nothing Grandpa." he gave a weak smile.

"Are ya sure? You've been lookin' kinda frustrated since last night."

"Well it's just…" Arnold sighed, "You know Helga, right?"

"Your little friend with the one eyebrow?" Phil smirked.

"Yeah, well… there's this… person… who likes her a lot, but she doesn't like them, but they think she likes them. So she's pretending to like them so she doesn't hurt their feelings. Does that make any sense?"

"Hmmm. Yeah… that does seem like a pickle…" Phil scratched his chin.

"And now she's too afraid to tell them the truth." Arnold sighed again.

"Welp, sounds like she's got arealproblem on 'er hands! But, I say she should just dump the guy! He can handle it!" Phil shouted a little too enthusiastically.

Arnold rubbed his neck, "Uh, Grandpa?"

"Hm?" Phil said sipping his coffee.

"It's a girl…"

Phil spat coffee at that, "OH WELL THAT CHANGES EVERYTHING! She can't dump 'er! It'd break 'er little heart! Brand 'er for life!"

"Well then, what should she do?" Arnold asked.

"Well Arnold, lemme tell ya…" Phil paused, "I have no idea!"

That afternoon, after Lila left to get her books from her locker, Helga started talking to herself, "Oh, criminy! I can't believe I'm still in this mess!"

She pulled out her locket and looked at it wistfully, "Oh, Arnold! If only I had left the writing on the wall the same rather than changing to hide my secret! Then, perhaps, you would be the one falling in love with me, and only then would I not feel awful about not being able to reciprocate your feelings, or Lila's, or anybody's!" she slumped in her chair as stared at the face in her locket. She could almostfeelArnold's accusing gaze staring into her soul.

"Helga?"

She snapped her head up to see Arnold coming over to her desk as she immediately slipped her locket back into her shirt. "What do you want, Football-head?!"

"I… just wanted to see if you… told Lila yet…" Arnold answered as he rubbed his neck.

"Helga slumped in her seat again and looked at her desk dejectedly, "Not… yet…"

"Helga… you can't keep this up forever-"

"Keep what up forever?"

Arnold turned around to see Lila walking up to him and Helga.

"Er- nothing Lila." Arnold faked a smile.

Lila smiled as she brushed past him to talk to Helga, "Are you ready to go, Helga?"

"Um… y-yeah, I-" Helga was about to agree to leave with Lila until she looked at Arnold.

He was giving her a pleading look. It grieved her immensely. He was right. She couldn't keep this up. Not in the slightest.

"Actually Lila, I was wondering if you could meet in the park later. Say about four thirty? I have something important I need to tell you…"

"Oh… okay…" Lila looked apprehensive, but decide to brush it off. "I'll see you then Helga!"

"Yeah, see ya…"

Arnold gave Helga a sympathetic look as Lila left, before leaving as well.

Later, Helga was sitting on a park bench, waiting for Lila to arrive.

"Hello, Helga." Lila greeted with nervous smile.

"Hey, Lila…"

"What was it that you wanted tell me?"

"W-well Lila, I-i just wanted to talk to you about… about…" Helga took a deep breath, and sighed. "Actually Lila, I wanted to… to tell you the truth."

"The truth?" Lila tilted her head, "Whatever do you mean?"

"I mean about the writing on the wall. I didn't actually write it. Or- well- I did. But I didn't mean to." Helga answered.

"Huh?"

"When I first wrote the writing, it said that I loved somebody else, but then you, Rhonda and Nadine came and I panicked. So I ended up writing your name instead." Helga looked down in guilt. She wished she had just erased it or something, but it was too late now.

"Oh…"

"So the truth is, I don't actually like you like you, I just like you. Ya know?"

"I… understand…" Lila looked down dejectedly.

"You okay?" Helga asked sympathetically.

"Yeah… I'm fine…" Lila answered. "I need to go home now."

"Well… okay… I'll, uh… see you around then?" Helga did her best to smile.

"Yeah… see ya." Lila said as she left.

After Arnold left the school, he decided to go to the park and make sure Helga and Lila's conversation went well. He watched them from behind a tree. He knew it was rude to eavesdrop, but he wanted to make sure everything was okay and that Helga would go through with telling Lila the truth.

"Well… okay… I'll, uh… see you around then?" He heard Helga say, doing her best to smile.

"Yeah… see ya." Lila walked then walked of home.

"Helga…?"

Helga jerked around to see Arnold coming out from behind the tree where he was hiding.

"Arnold?!" she yelped. "I-i mean- what'reyoudoing here Football-head?! Were you stalking me or something?! Geez!"

"I-i wanted to make sure your conversation with Lila went well… sorry for eavesdropping…" Arnold answered.

Helga signed, "Eh, don't sweat it Arnoldo." she smirked.

Arnold smiled, then rubbed his neck, "So… you told her, huh?"

"Yep. I… broke up with her I guess." Helga slumped her shoulders a bit.

"Well, at least you told the truth. I'm proud of you." Arnold said with a smile.

Helga laughed nervously, "Hehe, yeah I, uh, I guess I did, heh." she shook her head, then crossed her arms, "I-i mean, I couldn't just lie to her forever, ya know?"

"Yeah, I know." Arnold smirked, then rubbed his neck again, "There's.. justonething I wanted to ask you…"

She quirked her brow, "Hm? What's that?"

"What…didyou write on the wall at first?"

Helga blinked, then scowled. "None of your business, Football-head! Sheesh!"

Arnold raised his hands in defense, "I was just curious! Sorry!" he sighed, "You… you don't have to tell me if you don't want to… it's fine."

Suddenly, Helga started chuckling, "Heh.. ya know… it's funny, I think me and Lila can relate to each other. We both like people who don't like us back…"

Arnold blinked. "How do you know they don't like you back?"

"Trust me Arnold, I know." she shook her head, "It's funny… when somebody likes you, but you don't like them, you kinda feel bad about it, because you know that if you reallylikelike someone, but they don't like you, it hurts, ya know?"

"Yeah…" Arnold looked down, then looked at Helga. He kinda felt bad for her. She and Lila reallydohave a lot in common, don't they? "Say… Helga?"

"Hm?"

He started to fiddle, "Can I uh… walk you home?"

Helga blinked, the shrugged and chuckled nervously, "Heh… w-whatever floats your boat, F-football-head…"

Arnold smiled, then took her hand as they started walking together.


End file.
